president obama was in new york city serving damage from hurricane sandy alongside new york governor andrew cuomo and new york city mayor michael bloomberg. in the immediate aftermath of the storm the president spent time in new jersey alongside governor chris christie. mayor bloomberg specifically asked the president to please not come to new york city at that time, so the logistics and security arrangements around his visit wouldn't get in the way of the immediate recovery effort. but now with two weeks or so gone by, the president today announced that he is putting a cabinet official, housing secretary, in charge of the federal level of the rebuilding efforts after the storm. and he made that announcement from hard-hit staten island. >> during difficult times like this, we're reminded that we're bound together. and we have to look out for each other. and a lot of the things that seem important, the petty differences melt away and we focus on what binds us together and that we as americans are going to stand with each other in their hour of need. we're going to have to put some of